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Re: Do firearms empower people?

Guns empower people to do what they want, be that good things or bad things, so long as the gun is present at the time they want to do the particular act. Whether more help or harm comes as a result of this is an entirely different question.

The rhetoric about 'preventing tyranny' is largely empty though, IMO.

The truth may be out there, but lies are in your head. ~Terry Pratchett

Re: Do firearms empower people?

Originally Posted by iangb

Guns empower people to do what they want, be that good things or bad things, so long as the gun is present at the time they want to do the particular act. Whether more help or harm comes as a result of this is an entirely different question.

The rhetoric about 'preventing tyranny' is largely empty though, IMO.

Really? The colonies became the USA largely because of the empowerment of arms.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” ― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

Re: Do firearms empower people?

Originally Posted by ttwtt78640

Really? The colonies became the USA largely because of the empowerment of arms.

As I mentioned above, guns empower people to do whatever they want. That both applies to fighting back against tyranny, and being a tyrant in the first place. I can't name any tyrants who were unarmed.

We would also have to get into an argument about what constitutes 'tyranny'. Not sure the US government is any more or less tyrannical than the UK...

The truth may be out there, but lies are in your head. ~Terry Pratchett

Re: Do firearms empower people?

Simon: I've gotta ask you for a favor. Let me go my way here. This truck's my responsibility, and now that the car's hooked up to it, it's my responsibility too.

Rocstar: Do you think I'm stupid? Just answer that question first.

Simon: Look, I don't know nothing about you; you don't know nothing about me. I don't know if you're stupid, or some kind of genius. All I know is that I need to get out of here, and you got the gun. So I'm asking you, for the second time, let me go my way here.

Rocstar: I'm gonna grant you that favor, and I'm gonna expect you to remember it if we ever meet again. But tell me this, are you asking me as a sign of respect, or are you asking because I've got the gun?

Simon: Man, the world ain't supposed to work like this. I mean, maybe you don't know that yet. I'm supposed to be able to do my job without having to ask you if I can. That dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car without you ripping him off. Everything is supposed to be different than it is.

Rocstar: So what's your answer?

Simon: You ain't got the gun, we ain't having this conversation.

Rocstar: That's what I thought: no gun, no respect. That's why I always got the gun.

Yeah, I think a lot of people feel that way. I think a lot of people would react completely differently if they didn't have a gun. I'm not pigeon-holing all gun owners like this, but I think that, for some people, owning a gun gives them this feeling that they can do anything, and can get away with anything.

~*~That's part of your problem: you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies.~*~

Originally Posted by Checkerboard Strangler

November 2018, vote as if your lives depend upon it, because they just might.